(Hadda Padda and Kristrun are sitting toward the front, in large
deep arm-chairs, throwing a crystal ball to each other. Near by is
a small table, covered with a piece of velvet, on which the ball
had lain. Hadda Padda is very sunburnt.)

RANNVEIG [enters from behind. She is knitting, keeping the ball of
yarn under her arm. She is dressed in an Icelandic costume]. Take
care! Don't drop the ball! [Drops a stitch, takes it up again--
smiles.] Who knows--maybe it is your life-egg, children!

KRISTRUN. Life-egg! ... Is that a fairy-tale?

RANNVEIG. Haven't you ever heard it? Come, let me tell you about
it. [Takes a chair and sits down beside them.] Once upon a time
there lived two giantesses who were sisters. One day, they lured a
young prince to them. They let the prince sleep under a coverlet
woven of gold, while they themselves slept under one woven of
silver. When at last the prince pledged himself in marriage to one
of them, he made them tell him how they spent the day in the
forest. They went hunting deer and birds, and when they rested,
they sat down under an oak, and threw their life-egg to each
other. If they broke it they both would die. The next day, the
prince went to the forest, and saw the sisters sitting there,
under the oak. One of them was holding a golden egg in her hand,
and just as she tossed it into the air, he hurled his spear. It
hit the egg, and broke it--the giantesses fell down, dead.

KRISTRUN. Brave giantesses who dared to treat your sacred
possession so heedlessly!